


A Goodnight's Sleep

by Chaosprincess



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Shy!Troy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 06:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12163071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaosprincess/pseuds/Chaosprincess
Summary: After a major death in the Otto family, the Clark family moves into the main house. Well, most of the Clark family. Nick needs a little convincing.





	A Goodnight's Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Special Shout Out to Segabarrett for some of Troy's lines <3

With the death of Jeremiah Otto, the merging of the Clark and Otto families was complete. The funeral had been more like a somber wedding, with a Clark squeezed on each side of the Otto brothers, as they stood at the altar that was his father’s coffin. Alicia stood on Jake’s left. Madison stood between Troy’s brother and himself, and Nick stood to Troy’s right, as brooding and silent as ever. 

The fusion of their families was the only immediate benefit of his father’s death that Troy could identify. On the night of his suicide, the entire Clark family had converged on their front porch. Neither he nor Jake was inclined to ask them to leave. Alicia inevitably made her way to Jake’s room. Madison spent most of the night in Big Otto’s office, but even when she hauled herself to bed it was Jeremiah’s room that she chose. Nick had simply made himself at home on the couch, and Troy settled into the armchair beside him. No sleep was had for the pair of them. They talked all night, and when morning came, they went down to the canteen together. 

The next night, Troy had arrived to the house first. He waited, fully expecting Nick to waltz in and flop gracelessly onto the couch, but after the first few minutes he grew uncertain that it would happen. Troy waited up to see if the male Clark would trail in at some absurd hour as he was prone to do, but no…. Troy woke up to an undisturbed couch.

When he went to get breakfast, he found Nick eating with a haunted expression etched onto his face. 

**”Hey, Nicky,”** Troy offered. 

Nick glanced up at him, mid-bite, and something about those wide-brown eyes made Troy grin as he slid onto the bench beside him. 

**”Late night?”**

Troy took the confusion on Nick’s face to mean “no”.

 **”Not particularly…”** Nick confirmed.

**”You didn’t come to the house.”**

**”Oh,”** Nick replied, still not quite getting it. **”I just sort of crashed at my place…”**

**”You mean Russell’s house?”**

**”Well yeah, Jeremiah kind of implied that I could live there if I fixed it up.”**

**”Why would you want to?”** Troy asked bluntly.

There was a pause. Troy could see the gears turning in Nicky’s head. He was choosing his words carefully, like a true poet. 

**”I don’t know. It’s in a good location… I can see what’s coming, maybe warn the rest of you if there’s an attack.”**

**”Or die before we can get to you,”** Troy said, giving Nick a meaningful look.

Nick understood, but brushed it off to make a new point.

**”...plus I need the space.”**

**”The house has space,”** Troy asserted, though he hated how defensive it sounded. 

**”Does it? It seemed kind of crowded last night.”**

_There was space in my room,_ Troy wanted to say. He cursed himself for keeping Nick up all night on the couch, making him think he wasn’t welcome to a room, to a bed. A rush of heat flooded him.

 **”Troy, are you okay?”** Nick asked, giving him a concerned look. 

_Shit,_ Troy thought. He had been staring. He was still staring. He couldn’t look away. He broke into a cocky grin.

**”Of course, I am. But it’s sweet of you to worry.”**

Nick snorted and went back to eating.

 **”You coming to make rounds with us this morning?”**

***

That night, Troy begrudgingly returned to his Nick-less home. Alicia and Jake had already gone to bed together. Madison stayed up in the living room with him for a while, but Troy found himself oddly disinterested in being lectured about his self-control around Walker’s people. His gaze kept straying to the empty couch.

 **”I’m going for a walk,”** Troy announced.

 **”Don’t go too far,”** Madison replied.

Troy wasn’t sure if she meant with his actions or with his distance.

 **”Okay,”** he replied, covering both. 

There was no sense in pretending that he was going anywhere else. His feet carried him directly from his own house to Nick’s place on the corner of the ranch. The light’s were all out and Troy froze as he heard the springs of the bed creak. His chest seized up. Was there someone in there with him? Had that Mexican girl come back when she heard what happened? Or was this the new one- what’s her name- Ofelia? Why did thinking about it hurt so much? Maybe he should just go…

But he didn’t have anywhere to go. Nick was here. 

Eventually, Troy decided that he would rather know than not and he knocked. He could hear Nick sit up, imagine the look of apprehension on his face. The lantern flickered on and the door opened. Nick stood in the doorway, wearing an undershirt and boxers. Judging by his face, Troy had woken him up.

 **”Troy...what?”** Nick yawned.

 **”You gonna invite me in?”** Troy asked with his most charming grin.

Nick scowled sleepily and stepped aside. The little hovel was blessedly empty. Nick must have just had fitful sleep. 

_Must be all that angst he carries inside,_ Troy concluded.

 **”Troy, what do you want?”** Nick asked.

 **”I want to have a sleepover!”** Troy said with a grin, undeterred by Nick’s groaning and obvious annoyance.

**”It’s too late for games and shit.”**

**”Who said anything about games, Nicky? We can just sleep.”**

**”My bed’s kind of small for that,”** Nick replied with another yawn.

 **”I don’t mind,”** Troy said earnestly. **”But if you do, my bed is bigger.”**

Nick gave him an odd look, a little annoyed, a little suspicious.

 **”You came all this way, just so that we could sleep together?”**

**”I’ve heard of guys going to much greater lengths than this,”** Troy teased.

**”That’s not what I meant.”**

**”Maybe that’s what I meant.”**

There was a long pause. Troy held his smile, but his resolve was crumbling. Nick was giving him a searching look. He didn’t seem happy. This whole mission was a bust. Troy’s smile shrank and he looked down.

 **”Okay, Nicky… you win. I’ll go. Sorry I woke you up,”** he said, turning away quickly, 

The pain in his chest was greater than he’d expected, bigger than he could have imagined. He would never have attempted if he’d known it would hurt this badly.

 _Keep smiling. Gotta keep smiling. It was all a joke. It’s no big deal, Nicky. I’m fine. Say it._

**”Troy wait,”** Nick said, sounding exasperated. 

Troy paused, bracing himself to say the words he just rehearsed. He dared to meet Nick’s eyes again. It was a mistake, opening himself like that. He knew Nick could see the sadness in his own.

 **”You want me to stay with you?”** Nick asked quietly. 

Troy wavered, unsure if he wanted to be more vulnerable than he already was. But he looked at Nicky, so small and alone in that doorway. There was too much space between them. 

**”Yeah… Yeah I do.”**

There was a longer pause. Then Nick drifted back into his house, door still open. Troy stood still, frozen in time, until Nick returned with a fresh set of clothes under his arms.

 **”Let’s go, Otto,”** Nick said sternly.

Troy grinned and happily walked Nick back to the main house. Nick made a move for the couch, but Troy firmly gripped his arm and pulled him upstairs towards his bedroom. On the way there, they heard some springs creaking that were definitely _not_ someone tossing and turning. A soft moan slipped into the hall from Jake’s bedroom. 

**”Is that my sister?”** Nick asked quietly, eyes drifting to the ceiling.

**”Yeah, sorry… I can make them stop if you want…”**

Nick looked vaguely uncomfortable, but eventually exhaustion won.

**”Nah, it’s fine….”**

Troy didn’t press the issue and led Nick into his practically bare bedroom. There was hardly any furniture at all, let alone decorations. Nick wasn’t one to judge though, Troy knew that.

 **”Clothes can go in the top drawer,”** Troy said, sitting on the edge of the bed. 

Nick tucked them away, not seeming to question whether this would be a permanent arrangement or not. He settled on the bed next to Troy. There was an awkward moment where neither of them were certain of what to do next, but apparently Nick was too tired to be shy. He crawled further onto the bed and curled beneath the blankets. Troy watched him fondly before doing the same. After almost an hour of watching Nick’s chest rise and fall peacefully, Troy finally wrapped his arms around him and settled down for a nice long rest. To his surprise, Nick shifted, pressing closer against Troy’s chest, and Troy wondered if the Clark boy was still asleep or just pretending to be. 

Either way, it was the best sleep he’d ever gotten.


End file.
